All the Single Ladies

We have hit a little lull in our road tripping voyages. Charleston, WV is simply a stop over so that we aren't driving eight hours. When we arrive, we think it might have been worth the effort. But, I am getting ahead of myself.

Day three starts bright and early with Luke waking Mom and I at 5:18am. We start getting ready and Erin wakes and rallies although she got in late or early that morning. I start singing Beyonce, "All the single ladies; all the singles ladies." Then I say, "Oh wait a minute. I'm the only single lady. That's not really appropriate." The song and comment get a laugh, and we start the day off in a great way.

We get dressed, pack all thousand bags we have, and pull out the Renaissance by 6:30am. I am driving, Mom is sitting in the back with Luke, and Erin is asleep in the very back seat. This van is really perfect for this kind of thing.

Luke is awake for roughly half and hour, happy as a clam, and then Mom works her mojo and he is asleep. We drive for three hours before we need to stop for gas and magically Luke wakes up just in time to get out of the car and get a diaper change. Mom and I have been talking up a storm, and we are excited to find a gas station attached to a Starbucks

Erin is up, we get coffee and breakfast stuff, and we head back on the road This time Mom is driving, and I am in back with Luke. This does not work; we quickly pull over and switch. Me driving, Erin navigating and Mom on baby patrol. Somehow she manages to weave her spell by sining patriotic songs and Luke goes back to sleep again. He sleeps right up to the point we get into Charleston at 11am. It is a great drive, and we are all very glad to have started the trip early enough so that Luke is in great spirits. We become the single ladies as we go through three toll booths, but we don't hit too much traffic.

We are staying at the Marriott and right away it is drastically different treatment than what we had in Asheville. We can't get a cart for our bags; Erin goes off to try and friend one; they don;t have bell hops; no one seems to be able to help in anyway. There is a woman with a cart standing by the hotel entrance and Mom asks her if we can have it as soon as she loads. Se says she can't load because she can't get it over the speed bump. This is the tiniest speed bump ever created, so in my frustration, I waddle over to this woman. I am wearing Luke, and I take this woman's cart, pull it over the bump, drag it to this woman;s car, which is parked right behind ours, and she says to me, "Well I just didn't realize it would be that easy." No thank you; no nothing.

We get up to the room, which is soooo small compared to what we just left, and we quickly decide to head to the mall. After a miserable lunch at Chili's, we go back to the room, Luke takes a nap, and so do Mom and I. He sleeps for almost another two hours- traveling agrees with him.

Erin in her wonderfulness grabs him as soon as he wakes giving e another half and hour of rest, and I feel like a new woman. We walk around the mall again after our nap and decide what we really need is some room service and some blogging. Oh, did I mention we have to pay for wi-fi here? We are really ready to leave Charleston and head to Wheeling.

Day four... Coleman's fish sandwiches.